Self-cleaning gravimetric and volumetric dosing apparatuses
AssigneeAmpacet Corporation
InventorEli Margalit
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A self-cleaning dosing apparatus includes a material hopper for containing pellets of material, a feed screw, a first material outlet through which pellets of material fall by gravity onto a first end of the feed screw for the feeding of pellets to a process machine. A second material outlet is located beneath the first end of the feed screw, with a slide gate blocking the second material outlet. A pneumatic piston is provided for pulling the slide gate to unblock the second material outlet, and a Venturi pump is located under the second material outlet for pulling pellets through the second material outlet when the slide gate is opened.
Claims6
A self-cleaning dosing apparatus comprising:
- a) a material hopper containing pellets of material;
- b) a feed screw;
- c) a first material outlet through which pellets of material fall by gravity onto a first end of the feed screw;
- d) a cylindrical insert that surrounds the feed screw;
- and
- e) a motor that is connected to the first end of the feed screw and rotates the feed screw inside of the cylindrical insert to push pellets of masterbatch to a second end of the feed screw where the pellets of material fall out of the cylindrical insert;
- the self-cleaning dosing apparatus characterized in that it comprises:
- i) a second material outlet located beneath the first end of the feed screw;
- ii) a slide gate that blocks the second material outlet;
- iii) a pneumatic piston that pulls the slide gate back to unblock the second material outlet;
- iv) a Venturi pump located under the second material outlet;
- and
- iv) an air nozzle located opposite the second end of the feed screw and is configured to create and direct a stream of air through the cylindrical insert;
- wherein:
- ai) the motor is configured to reverse the direction of rotation of the feed screw, thereby causing the pellets of material between threads of the feed screw to be transported backwards towards the second material outlet;
- aii) the stream of air created by the air nozzle pushes pellets of material that have fallen to the bottom of the cylindrical insert back through the cylindrical insert towards the second material outlet;
- and
- aiii) the Venturi pump pulls all pellets of material that fall from the material hopper through first material outlet and the second material outlet and the pellets of material that are pushed out of the feed screw and the cylindrical insert by the reverse rotation of the feed screw and the stream of air from the nozzle out of the apparatus;
- thereby completely removing all traces of the material from material hopper, the feed screw, and the cylindrical insert.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.